BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
ADEQUATE film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s famous novel which, even two decades later, lies fatally in the shadow of the acclaimed TV series but at least features another stunning performance from the eternally under-rated Emma Thompson.
STAR RATING: **
CITY OF EMBER (PG) (All major cinemas)
KIDS film it may be but here is a family flick that uses its adventure story and fantasy world premise to deliver a stark message to the leaders of our own planet. The city of Ember is dying. With no adults to rely on, it is left to young Saoirse Ronan (from Atonement) and Harry Treadway to decide they are not going to accept the inevitable. They set out to discover the secret behind a mysterious message left by those who built the city which they believe will find them a way out of Ember.
STAR RATING: ***
ŠDEATH RACE (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
MINDLESS action, which has Jason Statham as a wrongly convicted killer who is recruited to take part in a prison race which is screened on pay-per-view Internet.
STAR RATING: **
DISASTER MOVIE (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
FROM the ‘creative’ team that brought us Epic Movie and Meet The Spartans comes another selection of lame movie spoofs and cameos from desperate B list stars.
STAR RATING: *
THE DUCHESS (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
THE Diana parallels have lent a topical air to this intelligent account of what befalls 19-year-old Georgiana (Keira Knightley), a fun-loving, intelligent young woman who ends up in what turns out to be a loveless marriage with the older Duke of Devonshire, played with characteristic elegance by Ralph Fiennes.
STAR RATING: ***
FEMALE AGENTS (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Tuesday-Thursday)
JEAN-Paul Salome directs this Second World War drama loosely based on real events. Sophie Marceau plays a French resistance worker who has escaped to London and is asked to lead a team of female agents to rescue an English scientist from a war hospital in occupied France before he’s tortured into reveal vital secrets.
STAR RATING: ***
FLY ME TO THE MOON (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
THE 3-D gimmick has come a long way in recent years and this animated feature makes the most of it as - somewhat improbably - we follow the fortunes of a family of houseflies who hitch a ride on Apollo 11 in 1969 as it makes its way to the moon!
STAR RATING: ***\
THE HOUSE BUNNY (12A) (All major cinemas)
ONE day, Anna Faris will make a comedy classic. For now, she is saddled with being the best thing about average movies, such as this one, in which she is a Playboy bunny thrown out of the mansion by Hugh Hefner and ends up helping a college sorority group of misfit girls find their inner beauty.
STAR RATING: **
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE (15) (All major cinemas)
SIMON Pegg is the latest in a long line of British TV comedy stars to attempt to make it big in American movies. This promising adaptation of Toby Young’s best-seller bout a small-time London magazine writer elevated to New York celebrity journalist status has him surrounded by an impressive cast including Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges.
STAR RATING: ***
MAMMA MIA! (PG) (All major cinemas)
A BUNCH of non-singing actors come together to belt out some of the greatest pop songs every written and somehow it works! Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan take on the best of Abba in a Greek island setting for this guaranteed hit, based on the successful stage musical.
STAR RATING: ***
MIRRORS (15) (All major cinemas)
KEIFER Sutherland tries to translate his 24 success into renewed big screen fame but does so via yet another poor US adaptation of an Asian horror movie - this time one about homicidal mirrors in a burnt out department store.
STAR RATING: **
COMING SOON
October 24: HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (Zac Efron)
October 24: GHOST TOWN (Ricky Gervais)
October 24: SAW V (Tobin Bell)
October 31: QUANTUM OF SOLACE (Daniel Craig)
October 31: THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (Bradley Cooper)
November 7: PRIDE & GLORY (Colin Farrell)
